The 20 Weirdest Festivals In The US You Won't Believe Exist
Think Your Town's Festival Is Strange?
The US is full of festivals as unique and endearing as the American people themselves. While some celebrate food, folklore, or local legends, others embrace sheer absurdity. From flying pumpkins to worm-charming contests, here are 20 bizarre festivals that prove that American creativity knows no bounds
1. Mike the Headless Chicken Festival
Held annually in Fruita, Colorado, the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival celebrates the bizarre survival story of a chicken that survived for 18 months after being beheaded. The festival entails a parade, wing-eating contest, and chicken-themed games.
2. Mothman Festival
Mothman Festival, held every year in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, celebrates the legend of the Mothman, a mysterious winged creature that was reportedly sighted in the town in the 1960s. The festival includes costume contests, guest speakers, and guided tours.
3. Worm Grunting Festival
Sopchoppy, Florida's Worm Grunting Festival is a competition where participants use rhythmic vibrations in the soil to see who can coax the most earthworms to the surface. The festival also includes a five-kilometer run, live music, and an outdoor ball.
4. Frozen Dead Guy Days
Frozen Dead Guy Days, held annually in Nederland, Colorado, commemorates Bredo Morstoel, a man whose body was preserved in ice because his grandson wanted to someday bring him back to life. The town embraced the quirky story, turning it into a festival full of weird events like coffin races, frozen turkey bowling, and polar plunges.
5. Humongous Fungus Festival
Humongous Fungus Festival in Crystal Falls, Michigan, honors the discovery of one of the world's largest known organisms, a 37-acre honey mushroom which was found nearby in the 1980s. The celebration includes mushroom-themed food, a scavenger hunt, and a parade.
6. National Hollerin' Contest
Spivey’s Corner, North Carolina's National Hollerin' Contest, celebrates the old-fashioned form of communication in which people would yodel at each other over long distances in rural areas. In this festival, contestants compete in different hollering styles, and food, music, and crafts are also included.
7. Fruitcake Toss
The annual Fruitcake Toss in Manitou Springs, Colorado, started as a way for people to get rid of unwanted fruitcakes after the holidays. Instead of tossing them in the garbage, people decided to see how far they could toss them, turning it into a competition. People even make contraptions like catapults and slingshots.
8. Underwater Music Festival
The Underwater Music Festival, held each year in the Florida Keys, entails musicians playing underwater-themed instruments like shell guitars while pre-recorded music is played through underwater speakers. Participants dress as mermaids or sea creatures with snorkel or scuba gear. The event was created to raise awareness for coral reef preservation.
Cpl. Reece E. Lodder on Wikimedia
9. UFO Festival
UFO Festival is held each year in Roswell, New Mexico, where a UFO is rumored to have crashed in 1947. It's a celebration of all things extra terrestrial, with lectures from UFO researchers and conspiracy experts, alien-inspired art and merch, outer space-themed food, and an alien costume contest.
10. Testicle Festival
Testicle Festival takes place every year in Clinton, Montana. It celebrates and features all things made from bull testicles. It includes food, music, and a wet T-shirt competition.
English Wikivoyage on Wikimedia
11. Idiotarod
Idiotarod is a shopping cart race held in New York City, Chicago, and various other places in the US. A spoof on Alaskan dog sled races, it entails teams in over-the-top costumes racing decorated shopping carts through city streets, stopping at pubs ("checkpoints") along the way. Awards are given out not necessarily for the fastest, but for the most creative.
12. Pumpkin Chunkin' Festival
Originating in Delaware before spreading to various US cities, Pumpkin Chunkin' Festival is one of the wackiest autumn traditions. Teams build contraptions like catapults and cannons to see who can hurl a pumpkin the farthest. Live music, food, and carnival games are also included in the festivities.
13. Duck Tape Festival
Duck Tape Festival, held every year on Father's Day weekend in Avon, Ohio, celebrates the versatility of duct tape. There are duct tape fashion shows, a parade with floats made of duct tape, and duct tape building competitions.
Santeri Viinamäki on Wikimedia
14. Gathering of the Juggalos
Gathering of the Juggalos is the official fan festival for the rap duo Insane Clown Posse (ICP). The festival includes ICP concerts, face-paint contests, and themed games.
15. Baby Doll Dance
Baby Doll Dance is a whimsical and somewhat spooky festival held in Cahokia, Illinois, in which participants dress as baby dolls and perform dances, a tradition that dates back to the early 1900s. The festival also includes parades and costume contests.
16. Spam Jam Festival
Spam Jam Festival is held each May in Waikiki, Hawaii. It honors the canned meat, Spam, which is a culinary staple and a key part of the local cuisine in Hawaii. The festival includes Spam-themed foods, cooking contests, and live music, with attendees dressing in Spam-inspired costumes.
17. Possum Festival
Possum Festival in Wasau, Florida, is an annual event honoring the region's strangest creature, the opossum. Attendees enjoy opossum-themed contests, parades, games, live music, and food.
18. Frog Leg Festival
The Frog Leg Festival in Fellsmere, Florida, is a quirky culinary festival held in January each year. It entails frog leg and gator tasting in celebration of some of Florida's most unusual delicacies.
19. Surfing Santas
The Surfing Santas festival in Cocoa Beach, Florida, started as a way for surfers to demonstrate their Christmas cheer. Participants dress as Santa or other Christmas characters and compete in surfing competitions and exhibitions. A parade, costume contests, and live music also take place along the beach.
20. Bugfest
Bugfest is an annual festival celebrating all things creepy-crawly. Held in Raleigh, North Carolina, the festival includes live insect displays, presentations by entomologists, and insect-based dishes.
